The family of Japanese KMEW panels, the advantages of which we have recently talked about, have recently been replenished on the Russian market with two new product groups. The first one is smooth panels imitating the flat surface of plastered facades. The second is a panel with a linear cut of relief stripes, enlivening the texture and creating a play of light and shade on the facades, allowing you to "collect" the volume of the building and make it more diverse. Together and separately, they allow you to creatively work with the facades of buildings of any typology - from country houses to large residential complexes and public buildings.
The appearance of these two lines is associated with numerous requests from Russian architects: these textures are convenient and practical, they are suitable for a variety of facade solutions. Since our market is just assimilating a new proposal, we propose to see how the architects of the USA and Canada work with a similar material (where panels, known here as KMEW, have been supplied under the Ceraclad brand since 2005).
Let's start with the most traditional texture - a smooth surface similar to a plastered facade.
Smooth textured panels
Of the smooth panels, US architects prefer Contemporary smooth texture. There are 15 colors in the line, allowing you to subtly work out the colors and embed new buildings into the existing urban context.
One notable example is a residential complex in Everett, where the architects used two shades of gray and a brighter saffron, which resulted in an almost complete color match with the adjacent brick building of the public library.
Smooth panels are also good as a background for more complex architectural elements and finishes. High Point Community Center, designed by the architects Environmental Works, is located in one of the downtown areas of Seattle. Much of the façade is clad in smooth blue-gray KMEW panels, and the architecture has many references to Japanese architecture. The glazing of the stained-glass windows resembles traditional shoji windows, many canopies with consoles seem to be made of rice paper, wooden roofs look like traditional Japanese roofs, and a picturesque garden is laid out in front of the building. The smooth texture perfectly withstands the proximity of other materials - wood, stone, glass. An important addition - the building has been awarded a LEED gold certificate.
The Contemporary Smooth texture is also suitable for creating laconic images. The single-family home on Bainbridge Island, designed by the architects of Coop 15, is set on an elevated position overlooking the water and surrounded by greenery. KMEW panels in unpainted linen are complemented by another cladding material with a red cedar texture. In the same vein, the building of the garage and the art workshop was decided. The combination of textures, sliding doors, a wooden deck and integration into the landscape also give the cottage a similarity to traditionally minimalist Japanese houses.
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In the Russian catalog, panels with a smooth texture are included in the Seradir V line, that is, they are suitable for cladding buildings of any height. The texture is called Plain and is presented in eight standard colors: from light beige KMEW HCW9152GC to pastel blue KMEW HCW9158GC. Seradir V panels can be painted in other colors, for example, presented in the "Rice paper" collection.
Linear panels
In the modern Russian market, surprisingly, there are not so many high-quality and affordable materials that allow you to decorate the facade with embossed stripes. Meanwhile, modern trends require more and more attention to details that can "catch the eye", elements that provoke consideration and allow you to overcome the monotony. At the same time, it is not always appropriate to solve these creative problems with the help of complex ornamental carving. Embossed stripes are a great option for a strict and restrained, but rich enough variety that can revive a project without going beyond the reasonable.
Among the panels with embossed stripes, two textures are most popular in the USA and Canada. The first is 8-reveal with wider stripes. In the Russian catalog
similar panels are also included in the Seradir V line, so the scale of the texture is enlarged so that it is "readable" even at high heights: each panel does not consist of eight strips, like the American ones, but only five. This texture is available in five standard colors: white KMEW HCW1568GC, gray-blue KMEW HCW1569GC, ocher KMEW HCW15610GC, terracotta KMEW HCW15611GC and dark gray KMEW HCW1567GC. These panels can also be painted in other colors.
KMEW panels can be installed vertically and horizontally, and an invisible clip fastening from the outside creates the effect of a single canvas, such as in the Recreation Center of the Canadian city of Port Coquitlam, which attracts attention with its cheerful orange color. Here, linear panels are combined with smooth KMEW panels and bricks - this creates an interesting play of horizontal and vertical lines and rectangles of different sizes.
The Cast Stripe texture has thinner stripes, similar to slats. They are good for cladding small buildings and are capable of creating cozy and elegant spaces.
The summer house in the picturesque area of White Salmon was built by the architects from Encircle Design and Build for their parents. The residence is located on a hill, windows and terraces offer scenic views of the Oregon River. Dark gray panels set off other textures - warm wood in niches, concrete braziers, do not argue with the rich natural environment. The seams are also invisible here.
A residential complex in Seattle, white panels add freshness and lightness, complement well other materials for plaster and stone, arrange a "roll call" with the lines of gratings and patchwork squares of the first, more mundane floor.
In the Russian catalog, a similar material is included in the Neoroc line, that is, it is suitable for buildings no higher than 24 meters. There are four colors to choose from: white KMEW NH3121A, ocher KMEW NH31216A, light gray KMEW NH31213A and dark gray KMEW NH31215A. ***
Eco-friendly and self-cleaning
Let us recall that in total there are over 400 textures in the Russian KMEW catalog, but the advantages of the panels are not limited to the variety of visual characteristics. One of the main advantages is a special ceramic layer, thanks to which the panels retain their color, get rid of dirt and even purify the air. The environmental parameters of KMEW fiber cement make the material suitable for the construction of "green" buildings, which can be certified according to the LEED system - one of the most stringent.
